1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector, and particularly to a rotatable card connector for facilitating insertion of a card.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,068,510, 6,071,135 and 6,077,088 disclose some conventional card connectors. In these designs, the card connector is normally fixed at an edge of a printed circuit board (PCB) located in an electronic device. In assembly, a card is inserted through a cutout defined in the electronic device into the card connector along a direction parallel to the card connector. In other words, this design is only applicable in situations where the card connector occupies an edge of the PCB. However, in some special situations, the edge of the PCB is not available for mounting the card connector since the space on PCBs is becoming increasingly critical. Accordingly, the conventional mounting arrangement is no longer applicable in this situation. In other words, conventional card connectors cannot be used in situations where use of the board edge is denied. Hence, an improved card connector is required to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art. On the other hand, in some application situations of the notebook computer, the card is required to be inserted into the computer enclosure from the bottom plate instead of the side wall because of the internal compact arrangement of the notebook computer. Under this situation, a moveable card connector is desired which may either be exposed to an exterior from the bottom plate of the computer enclosure for insertion/withdrawal, or reliably and securely embedded within the computer enclosure when the card is inserted therein.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a rotatable card connector which can be mounted at a side of a PCB of an electronic device;
A second object of the present invention is to provide a rotatable card connector for receiving an exterior card in an inclined direction.
Accordingly, a rotatable card connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of terminals received in the housing, and two fixing clips attached to the housing. The insulative housing has a header including a pair of pivots at two ends thereof and a plurality of passageways for receiving the terminals therein, and two guiding bars extending from the two ends of the header each having a ledge at a front end thereof. The pivots project from each end of the header to provide a rotational axis for the fixing clip. The ledge includes a first positioning recess, a sliding face and a second positioning recess. Each fixing clip has a base plate for fixing to a PCB, a joint section extending from the base plate to prevent over-rotating of the housing, and an engaging section for engaging with the ledge of the insulative housing. The engaging section includes an engaging hole for engaging with the pivot, a spring arm extending from a free end thereof and having a protrusion for engaging with the ledge, and a space defined between the spring arm and the body of the engaging section.
When the card connector is retained in an open position where the protrusion of the spring arm is engaged with the second positioning recess of the ledge, an exterior card is inserted into the card connector in an inclined direction along the guiding bar. The housing is then rotated so that the protrusion moves along the ledge from the second positioning recess to the first positioning recess. When the card connector has moved to a closed position, the exterior card can be completely inserted into the card connector, and the protrusion of the spring arm is engaged with the first positioning recess.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.